[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14771]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         SUPPORT PRESIDENT'S PROPOSAL TO REFORM SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 
President's proposal to reform our Social Security system. I also rise 
in support of the Members of the House of Representatives that have put 
forward a plan which would allow each individual in this country that 
is covered under Social Security to make a decision to have part of 
their payroll taxes invested in government securities, in U.S. Treasury 
bonds.
  There are two differences between this proposal and the current law. 
Under current law, the surplus in the Social Security fund is invested 
aggregately in what are called Social Security Trust Bonds. Those are 
government bonds, except they are not marketable, and they are not in 
any individual's names.
  The proposal that some Members of the House of Representatives 
propounded this week is to allow an individual to take parts of their 
individual payroll tax and invest it in a government security, a U.S. 
Treasury security in their name, which would be a marketable security.
  I think this proposal is long overdue, and I rise first in strong 
support of the President's proposal to reform our Social Security 
program and in the proposal that the Members of the House have put 
forward.

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